ATLANTA: Lionel Messi has already won the World Cup, but the Argentina captain added another chapter to his astonishing career on Wednesday, inspiring his team to semi-final victory over England.
The reigning champions were faced with it, trailing until Anthony Gordon’s goal until the 85th minute in Atlanta before Messi worked his magic.
This time, the tournament’s all-time leading scorer didn’t score. But he teed up Enzo Fernandez for the equalizer and delivered a cross to Lautaro Martinez to head in the winner, sealing a 2-1 victory.
“These are special feelings. I think the team could feel it and it was a match that the Argentine people really wanted to win, and so did we,” Messi, 39, said after facing England for the first time in his career.
“It’s always a special date.”
He hasn’t quite been able to emulate Diego Maradona, who scored two iconic goals in Argentina’s 1986 World Cup quarter-final victory over England.
But he will be satisfied with the two assists, and he has already imitated his legendary predecessor by winning the trophy four years ago in Qatar.
Now, after Argentina maintained their incredible record of never losing a World Cup semi-final, Messi will appear in a second consecutive final and third overall.
The South Americans are aiming to become the first team to retain the World Cup since Brazil in 1962, and Messi, the lone survivor from the team that lost to Germany in 2014, will become the second player after Brazilian great Cafu to appear in three finals.
“It’s crazy to play in two finals in a row,” he said.
Argentina had already produced a superb late comeback to beat Egypt 3-2 at the same Atlanta stadium in the last 16, and they were smelling blood as England sat deeper and deeper after taking the lead.
“Once again we managed to get the job done when things were going badly. We never stopped believing in it,” said Messi, who has now played a record 33 World Cup matches in six different tournaments.
For long periods on Wednesday his influence was limited, but that was often the case with Messi and he still managed to drag his team to victory.
“I felt like for a lot of the game we managed it very well. But as always with the most dangerous players in the world, when they have the ball in the final third they can create something,” England captain Harry Kane said.
“He did it again today. He’s obviously one of the best players of all time for a reason.”
Spanish meeting
Messi is arguably the greatest of them all, and there may be no more debate if Argentina manage to defend their title in Sunday’s final against Spain.
Pele and Maradona only played in two World Cup finals while Maradona only won the trophy once.
Messi is also the all-time top scorer in World Cup history with 21 goals, although Kylian Mbappe is just one behind and plays against England in the third-place play-off on Saturday.
He could easily have retired from international football after 2022, when Argentina beat France in the final.
But he seems to have been saving himself for this World Cup in recent years, moving away from the intensity of European football and acclimatizing to American conditions with Inter Miami.
Although Cristiano Ronaldo’s continued presence in the Portugal squad may have held them back, Messi remains almost as influential as ever.
“He is just the leader and the key player of any team he plays in,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said.
They now have the chance to face Spain in a competitive match for the first time, and the identity of the opposition makes the occasion even more special.
Messi moved to Barcelona with his family at the age of 13 and stayed there for two decades, before leaving in 2021 for Paris Saint-Germain.
He has a Spanish passport and may one day settle again in Castelldefels, just on the coast from Barcelona.
But before Messi thinks about it, he wants to extinguish Spain’s dreams.
